MORE than one-third of small and medium-sized companies in Scotland are now paying more for their financing, according to new data.
The Scottish Government's SME Access to Finance found the proportion of businesses being charged a greater amount, either in fees or interest rates, when renewing lending has leaped from 29% to 37%.
However, the report suggests access to finance is improving with 73% of SMEs applying for credit in the previous year receiving what they wanted, an increase from 66%. The survey, which questioned more than 1000 businesses of between one and 249 employees in February this year, also found the outright rejection of applications dropped from 21% to 15%.
Please enable cookies in your browser to display the rest of this article.